Stories: Sometimes you wish you'd taken Landlord insurance

I thought I would share this story with you about one of the tenants that moved into one of the properties that we manage.

He applied for the property in the usual way and passed all referencing checks that we carry out on all tenants. He had a reference from his employer as well as sufficient funds in his bank account which showed him as the ideal candidate.

The tenant paid the first months rent up front along with his deposit to be held with the DPS (Deposit Protection Scheme) when the 2nd months rent became due, I began to chase this in the usual way in line with our set arrears procedures.

I received no contact whatsoever from the tenant and the arrears were building up, this lead to a property visit being conducted by a local agent to which we still had no joy.

Not too long after this we received a phone call from the Police, they were calling to advise us that the tenant had in fact been arrested and held in custody due to internet fraud.

We later found out that what the tenant had been doing was logging into his father’s online banking account and making regular transfers into his own account. His Father had previously had an accident and had received a lump sum into his account as compensation and the tenant was slowly taking this for himself, I got told he had a very flash car! But still no rent was paid!

Even though we knew that the tenant had been arrested and was looking at a stretch in prison, the property was still legally his. Legal proceedings had to commence and a court order received as the tenant didn’t surrender his tenancy. As you can imagine there are additional costs involved and also a timely process.

Unfortunately, this landlord hadn’t taken out any insurance to protect them against this type of thing happening which left them out of pocket. This was a real eye opener for myself and the landlord. We urge all landlords to take out the rent and legal protection insurance to cover them in this unfortunate situation and I do know that the landlord has taken out the cover for her current tenancy.

Yours in Effortless property management,

Sophia Berladyn
Finance Administrator

Sophia is currently completing her Level 4 Diploma qualifications in Accounting.

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Arlene didn't start in property, she worked for the likes of Marks and Spencer, Harrods and her own consulting business in Food Technology. In 2009 she took over the chair of Ezytrac Property Group and has overseen its growth since then.
Arlene conceived the famous 'Effortless Property' mantra and has been a big proponent of the constant push towards its achievement.
Arlene is married to Brett, a fellow property expert and they have 4 kids.